Instagram now allowing users to make purchases directly off the site

Instagram has undergone a change that went unnoticed to many, its incorporation of in-app payment feature that will let users to buy stuff right from within site itself. The feature though is still being tested and should explain its availability to only a select few users so far.

Also, not all stuff on Instagram can be bought right now. Rather, users can only book an appointment at spa outlets or a restaurant from within Instagram at the moment. Further, it is the dinner reservation app Resy that is allowing the reservations to be made for services that happen to be its clients.

To avail the in-app payment feature, users will need to register their credit or debit cards. A pin will also need to be set up for added security. Of course, that applies to only a handful of users for whom the feature has been rolled out. The payment is being guided by the Facebook payment policies

All of it again can’t be considered an entirely surprising development considering that something along these lines was being debilitated since March 2017 itself. Instagram had then envisioned a gradual shift towards e-commerce for the site that in any case was more oriented towards businesses than anything else.

The company had also stated the feature would see a wider roll out by end-2017 though that seems to be happening only now. Maybe the feature would go on to become a reality this time by the end of the year.

Also, given the inclination that Instagram has for businesses, a gradual shift towards offering e-commerce services shouldn’t prove to be too big of a chore. In fact, Instagram might have an advantage here among other e-commerce sites given the sheer number of businesses that already have a presence at the site.

There already are reports of movie tickets being up for sale from Instagram soon. That coupled to its social media status can actually be a boon as friends can collaborate to buy stuff or something bought by one can spur other to also buy the same and so on.